Main Cast: Joan Crawford, Jack Palance, Gloria Grahame, Bruce Bennett, Virginia Huston
Release Year: 1952
Country: US
Run Time: 110 minutes
Plot
Joan Crawford stars as wealthy San Francisco heiress Myra Hudson, a successful playwright who meets Lester Blaine (Jack Palance) while casting her new play in New York. They meet again on the train ride back, fall in love and marry. Unknown to Myra, Lester is seeing mistress Irene Neves (Gloria Grahame), whom he still loves and has married only for her money. While looking through her study, Irene and Lester learn that Myra has made a will leaving only $10,000 a year to Lester (though if he remarries following her death he receives nothing). Seeing that the will has not yet taken effect, they plot to kill Myra without noticing that Myra's dictating machine is on and recording their conversation. After listening to the conversation and spending a sleepless night, Myra goes to Irene's apartment and steals a gun. Irene then lures Lester to the apartment, intending to kill him. Losing her nerve, she flees the apartment with Lester chasing her. The film has an exciting and surprising climax as all meet unexpectedly during the chase. Joan Crawford gives a fine, if melodramatic performance, and Jack Palance is amazingly effective playing against type as a leading man. Despite a slow start, this is a fine suspense thriller that earned Oscar nominations for Joan Crawford and Jack Palance and a nomination for Charles B. Lang Jr. for his striking black and white photography. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide
Review
Featuring Joan Crawford at her grande dame victim-turned-avenger best, Sudden Fear (1952) pits Crawford's playwright/heiress Myra against fortune-hunting husband Lester and his equally greedy girlfriend Irene. Featuring gaunt yet imposing newcomer Jack Palance as Myra's scheming spouse, Lester is already a quietly threatening presence even before Myra accidentally discovers his plans and her tony San Francisco house becomes enshrouded in cinematographer Charles Lang Jr.'s film noir shadows. Crawford's Myra may momentarily wilt with grief and terror over Lester's treachery, but she plans her revenge with a force that more than matches rival Gloria Grahame's venal brassiness. Letting Crawford play it both ways while upping the suspense, director David Miller shows Myra systematically enacting her lethal plot in her mind before she attempts to execute the real thing and rediscovers her emotional conscience. Retreating to the titular sensation, Crawford still injects that terror with her formidable will during the climactic nocturnal chase through the slick streets. A triumphant hit for Crawford, Sudden Fear garnered Oscar nominations for Best Actress, Supporting Actor, Cinematography and Costumes; the sizzling Grahame was recognized by the Academy for her supporting turn in The Bad and the Beautiful (1952) instead. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
Boris Leven - Art Director, Sheila O'Brien - Costume Designer, David Miller - Director, Leon Barsha - Editor, Elmer Bernstein - Composer (Music Score), Elmer Bernstein - Musical Direction/Supervision, Arthur Altman - Songwriter, Elmer Bernstein - Songwriter, Irving Taylor - Songwriter, Edwin Allen - Makeup, Josef Norin - Makeup, Charles B. Lang - Cinematographer, Joseph Kaufman - Producer, Edward Boyle - Set Designer, Robert Smith - Screenwriter, Lenore J. Coffee - Screenwriter, Edna Sherry - Short Story Author
Myra Hudson (Crawford) is a successful Broadway playwright who rejects Lester Blaine (Palance) as the lead in her new play. Later, she meets Lester on a train bound for San Francisco, is swept off her feet, and, after a brief courtship, marries him. When Lester learns Myra is writing her will and plans to leave the bulk of her fortune to a foundation, he plots her murder in cahoots with Irene Neves (Gloria Grahame), an old girlfriend hiding in the wings. Myra discovers their plans and concocts a diabolical scheme to kill Lester and place the blame on Irene, but cannot bring herself to go through with it. Lester learns of Myra's intention and accidentally kills Irene and himself in an attempt on Myra's life. Myra hears the two pronounced dead and breathes a sigh of relief. Others in the cast include Bruce Bennett, Virginia Huston, and Mike Connors (performing as Touch Connors).
A. H. Weiler in the New York Times commented, "Joan Crawford should be credited with a truly professional performance", and Otis L. Guernsey, Jr. in the New York Herald Tribune wrote, "The scenario...is designed to allow Miss Crawford a wide range of quivering reactions to vicious events, as she passes through the stage of starry-eyed love, terrible disillusionment, fear, hatred, and finally hysteria. With her wide eyes and forceful bearing, she is the woman for the job."[1] In 1984, writer Spencer Selby noted, "Undoubtedly one of the most stylish and refined woman-in-distress noirs."[2]
